Apparatus for trimming loose threadends of book-sewing stitches



Feb. 8, 1966 E. BAVERS ET AL 3,233,486

APPARATUS FOR TRIMMING LOOSE THREAD-ENDS OF BOOK-SEWING STITCHES Filed Dec. 5, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORS ELLIOTT BAVERS HENRY M. NEWMAN Feb. 8, 1966 E. BAVERS ETAL APPARATUS FOR TRIMMING LOOSE THREAD-ENDS OF BOOK-SEWING STITCHES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec.

28 FIG NEWMAN A TORNEY INVENTORS ELLIOTT BAVERS HENRY M United States Patent 3,233 486 APPARATUS FOR TRIMlQ IING LOQSE THREAD- ENDS 0F BOOK-SEWING STITCHES Elliott Bavers, 2321 Ave. 1, Brooklyn, N.Y., and Henry M. Newman, William Penn Road, Great Neck, N.Y. Filed Dec. 5, 1963, Ser. No. 328,365 6 Claims. (Cl. 83-490) The present invention relates to apparatus for trimming the thread ends of the stitches by which the signatures of books are sewn, individually and together with one another into a book prior to the binding of the book.

In the bookmaking process, the printed folios are folded to lead size and the leaves are sewn together at a number of spaced points along their inner edges, by groups of several stitches taken on a sewing machine. When these stitches are severed from the machine, lengths of loose thread remain attached to them; generally, about two inches in length. Similarly, the several signatures which are to be combined into a book are sewn together at a numberof points along the inner edge of the leaves by a number of groups of stitches, taken on a sewing machine, which are likewise left with loose thread ends? Before binding the sewn-together signatures between book covers, these loose threads have to be snipped off, so as not to interfere with the binding procedure. Heretofore, such snipping had to be manually effected by an operator Wielding scissors, who had to separately and individually cut the loose thread ends that are generally arranged in a number of rows transversely of the back of the sewntogether signature. Obviously, such procedure is time and labor consuming and, therefore, costly.

It is the general object of the present invention to provide apparatus which will mechanically and automatically snip or sheer off the loose thread ends left from the sewing together of the leaves of the signatures and of the several signatures to one another, to thereby eliminate the manual and costly operation heretofore required for the purpose.

It is antother object of the present invention to provide apparatus, of the character described, by which the thread-cutting operation may be carried out at a rapid ace. p t is still another object of the present invention to provide apparatus, of the character described, which is simple and easy to operate and whose operation does not require any training or skill.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide apparatus, of the character described, which is of relatively simple construction, relatively compact and sturdy, and may be run with a minimum of care and attention.

The foregoing and other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the embodiment shown in the accompanying drawings, and from the description following. It is to be understood, however, that such embodiment is shown by way of illustration only, to make the principles and practice of the invention more readily comprehensible, and without any intent of limiting the invention to the specific details therein shown.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention, partly broken away to show details of arrangement and construction;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the same, partly broken away to show structural details;

FIG. 3 is an end elevation taken along the plane of line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a section, on an enlarged scale, taken on line 4-4 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 of FIG. 4.

3,233,486 Patented Feb. 8, 1966 Generally stated, the present invention consists of ap paratus utilizing air suction means for straightening out and holding taut the thread ends of the signatures and book stitches and presents them While in such straight and taut position to cutters or clippers arranged to engage the loose threads at their base, and to clip them close to the body of the stitched-together book.

More specifically stated, the present invention comprises an upright frame formed of a plurality of suitably braced posts 10 supporting an elongated flat table 12 lengthwise of which there is provided a guideway for books; including a relatively narrower upper portion 14 and a wider lower portion 16 formed, preferably, by a pair of generally parallel, suitably bent guide plat-es 18 which may be adjustably secured on the table 12 by their oppositely offset horizontal end portions 2% as by means of the transverse slots '22 provided in such end portions, and the set screws 24 engageable over the edges of the slots to thereby make possible the adjustment of the width of the upper guideway portion 14 to accommodate books of various th cknesses.

An endless conveyor is passed through the guideway section 16 in close proximity to the table 12; such conveyor consisting, preferably, of a pair of spaced, parallel, endless sprocket chains 26 which are interconnected at intervals spaced apart a distance preferably exceeding the length of a book 28 by pusher bars 30 preferably consisting of angle-bar sections connected by one leg to the chains 26 with their other leg uprightly disposed and facing the direction of the movement of the sprocket chain 26.

The endless conveyor is operated by a pair of sprocket wheels 32, each engaging one of the chains 26 which are mounted on a drive shaft 34 journalled in bearings 36 supported on brackets 38 secured at the forward end of the frame Iii. A pair of idler sprockets 40 are provided at the opposite end of the table, mounted on a shaft 42 journalled in bearings 44 supported on brackets 46 at the other end of the frame 10. Additional, suitably supported idler sprockets 48 and 50 may be provided at the forward and rear ends of the frame Iii, adjacent the bottom thereof, each engaging the sprocket chains 26.

The driving shaft 34 is driven by a motor 52 which is operatively connected to a gear box 54 having a pulley wheel 56 that is opcratively connected by belt 58 to a pulley Wheel 69 mounted on the driving shaft 34,

Formed in the table 12, adjacent the forward end thereof, within the area of the lower guideway portion 16, is an opening 62 disposed between the paths of the sprocket chains 26 below the forward edge of which is mounted cutting clippers such as of the horse-hair clippers type, generally designated as 64, preferably of the type having a self-contained electric motor 66. The clippers are mounted, as by bracket 70, secured to vertically adjustable plates 72 provided 011 opposed walls of a flue 74 engaging against the underside of the table 12. The clippers are mounted in position to have the ends of its cutting teeth project partly into the opening at a level even with or slightly below the underside of the table 12. Preferably, the opening 62 is formed in an insert plate 76 which is set into a larger opening 78 provided in the table 12 so as to facilitate access to the clippers 64 for purposes of convenience of maintenance or replacement.

The flue 74 is connected to the inlet of an air pump 8i) whose outlet opening is connected to a second flue 82, whose outlet end is removably connected to an elongated sac 84 formed of an air-permeable fabric or provided with other, fine-mesh means for air-escape therethrough. The air-pump 89 is operated from a motor 86 by means of the pulley wheels 88 and 90 and the driving belt 92.

This completes the description of the apparatus of the present invention. Its methods of operation will now be described.

After the electric circuits, through the endless conveyor driving motor 52, the air pump motor 86 and the clipper motor 66 are closed to set each of these motors into operation, stitched books 23 may be successively placed in the guideway 14 with the stitched side downwardly disposed parallel to the table 12, and pushed inwardly until it rests on or close to the table 12. It will be clear that the books will be engaged by the pusher bars 34) and advanced towards the opening 62. As the book is moved over the opening 62, the suction created by the pump 80 will dispose and slightly tense the thread ends 94 into depending position, in which position they will, on the further forward movement of the book, encounter the cutting blades of the clippers 64 to be cut thereby. The cut thread ends 94 will be blown by air pump 80 into the sac 84 where they will be accumulated and disposed of when necessary by the emptying of the sac; the pumped air escaping through the wall of the sac or through the other air escape means provided, to limit air resistance to the action of the pump.

it may be 'here stated that chute means may be provided at the forward end of the table 12 which will direct the processed books out of the apparatus in a manner that will be readily understood and not thought necessary to be specifically shown. It may here also be stated that the rear end portions of the plates 18 may be laterally flared to facilitate the guiding and insertion of books into the guideway 14.

It will be apparent that the apparatus of the present invention provides rapid, automatic and highly efiicient means for the trimming away of loose ends of signatures on book stitching. It will also be apparent that the apparatus is relatively compact and occupies a minimum of floor space. It will be likewise apparent that the apparatus is simple to operate and requires no skill or training for that purpose.

It will be further apparent that numerous variations and modifications in the apparatus of the present invention may be made by any one skilled in the art, in accordance with the principles and invention hereinabove set forth, and without the exercise of any inventive ingenuity. We desire, therefore, to be protected for any and all such modifications and variations that may be made Within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims hereto.

What we claim is:

1. Apparatus for trimming the loose thread-ends of a stitched book, comprising a supporting table, a guide way adapted to accomodate the thickness of a book provided over said table, an opening formed in said table en compassed by said guide way, an air pump having its air-inlet opening connected to the other side of said table around said opening, thread-cutting means including reciprocable cutting blades secured to said other side of said table with its cutting blades extending into said opening adjacent one edge thereof, and conveyor means for moving a book disposed in said guide way toward and over said cutting blades in position to have said threadends extend into said air-inlet opening.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the portion of said guide way adjacent said table is of greater width than its upper portion and said conveyor means comprises a pair of spaced endless belts disposed within said wider guide way portion, said belts connected at intervals by book-pusher bars, and means moving said endless belts.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein said endless belts comprise sprocket chains and the means moving said endless belts include sprocket wheels engaging said sprocket chains.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said guide way comprises a pair of plates secured on said table in spaced relation to one another.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein said plates are adjustably secured on said table for movement toward and away from one another to thereby narrow and widen said guide way.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said air pump is formed with an air-outlet opening and a sac having airpermeable wall sections is removably secured to said pump over said air-outlet opening.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,578,214 2/1-952 Polk 83-400 X 3,122,038 2/1964 Juras 83-24 3,143,987 8/1964 Daniel et al 83-402 X 3,149,594 9/1964 Buckreus et a1. 83402 X vVILLIAM W. DYER, JR., Primary Examiner.

WILLIAM S. LAWSON, Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR TRIMMING THE LOOSE THREAD-ENDS OF A STITCHED BOOK, COMPRISING A SUPPORTING TABLE, A GUIDE WAY ADAPTED TO ACCOMODATE THE THICKNESS OF A BOOK PROVIDED OVER SAID TABLE, AN OPENING FORMED IN SAID TABLE ENCOMPASSED BY SAID GUIDE WAY, AN AIR PUMP HAVING ITS AIR-INLET OPENING CONNECTED TO THE OTHER SIDE OF SAID TABLE AROUND SAID OPENING, THREAD-CUTTING MEANS INCLUDING RECIPROCABLE CUTTING BLADES SECURED TO SAID OTHER SIDE OF SAID TABLE WITH ITS CUTTING BLADES EXTENDING INTO SAID OPENING ADJACENT ONE EDGE THEREOF, AND CONVEYOR MEANS FOR MOVING A BOOK DISPOSED IN SAID GUIDE WAY TOWARD AND OVER SAID CUTTING BLADES IN POSITION TO HAVE SAID THREADENDS EXTEND INTO SAID AIR-INLET OPENING. 